Archive for the “bunnyhat” Category

The Baby Bunny Hat was a free pattern that I got with the purchase of Plymouth Yarn, and I finished it in just four evenings of lazy knitting. The "Sweet Caroline" yarn wasn't as hard on my hands as some other cotton yarns I've tried (Sugar 'n Cream, I'm looking at you) and I was impressed by how soft it felt both as a ball and after it was knit. The single dyed strand in the yarn shaded nicely from one colour to the next and didn't pool or flash at all. I think it looks a lot like vanilla ice cream with sprinkles.

The pattern was actually written for Baby Bunny yarn, which has slightly more yardage per 50g ball than the Sweet Caroline does. I have seven grams left over after knitting the three-month size, so there might even be enough for the six-month size... but you’d probably need to dip into a second ball for the 9-12 or 18-24 month sizes.

The only modification that I made to the pattern was that I worked in the round, rather than knitting flat and then seaming it up afterward. The stitch pattern gets broken up across double-pointed needles, but it was easy enough to keep my place. Perhaps some people prefer seaming to knitting in the round, but I'm not one of them!

Baby-sized knits are fantastic instant gratification projects. I always forget how tiny baby clothes are; it seemed like I'd barely cast on when it was time to weave the ends in! Yesterday I picked up a little pink bag and some tissue paper, and tomorrow I will mail the hat off! I really hope the mom-to-be likes it.

Monday was a terrible day in which nothing went right, so I was determined to make Tuesday a good day in which everything went wonderfully. I started off by wearing my new socks - because really, how can I be in a bad mood if I'm wearing new socks? And on the way home from work, I stopped at With Yarn In Front to show them off... and to pick out some cotton yarn. My swornbrother Michael is going to become an uncle in just a few more weeks, and I thought it might be nice for me to knit a little something for the baby.

I browsed around the store for a little while and eventually decided to get a ball of Plymouth Sweet Caroline, a 100% cotton, worsted-weight yarn. Three strands are solid-coloured, and the fourth is variegated in the standard baby colours. It was a tossup between a colourway that was mostly pink with the one variegated strand, or the white one that I got. I went with white because I don't know if Michael's sister is a fan of baby-pink! The yarn came with a free pattern for this lacy Baby Bunny Hat, perfect for a little girl to wear in the springtime.

The pattern is written for the hat to be knit flat and seamed, but I decided to knit it in the round. The WS rows are only purling back with no lace, so I figured it wouldn't be too difficult.

"Cast on 101 stitches," the pattern said. I got out my DPNs and measured out a length of yarn for my usual long-tail cast-on, very carefully counted out 100 stitches, and knit a full round before I realized that I'd forgotten to add stitch #26 to the fourth needle. Rip, rip.

I cast on again, 101 stitches this time, and knit a full round before I realized that the first row of the edging is actually the wrong side of the work, and when the pattern said "knit" I should have purled because I'm working in the round instead of flat. Hooray for reading comprehension! ...so I cheated. I turned the work inside out. Voila, a purl round! Then I worked back the other way, and I used the tail from the cast-on to fill in the little hole that was left.

This might be the least terrible cotton yarn I've ever worked with. I never find cotton to be as nice on the hands as wool, but I knit the edging and a full pattern repeat last night and my hands aren't complaining. In addition, the yarn is theoretically machine-washable (excellent for baby clothing!), but the label had no care instructions. Cold-cold? Delicate cycle? I want to include a little tag with the gift, but I don't know what to write on it!